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On Moonberry Lake
“On Moonberry Lake” by Holly Varni tells the story of Cora Matthews after an unexpected ended engagement and her mother’s even less expected death. She inherits a broken down lakefront cottage as an inheritance, but to her dismay she can’t just sell it and run. There are conditions attached. She ends up meeting a host…
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The Warsaw Sisters
This book, by a new author to me, Amanda Barratt — broke my heart. I think probably it was the parallels I see between various situations in WWII and the one in Gaza now, but it felt very real. The book starts with twin sisters Antonina and Helena Dabrowska in August 1939 as they send…
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The Wind Blows In Sleeping Grass
This was not my first Katie Powner book. The first one, Where The Blue Skies Begin, was so strikingly different to me that I had to give another one a chance. Note: You should know there is discussion around abortion as well as some domestic abuse in this book. I don’t want it to hit…
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Soul-Deep Beauty
This book was a much-needed read for me. It took a look at how (American) Western culture and society shapes what women so often end up striving for, and wanting (to the point of harming ourselves). It was a hard read, because I recognize in myself a lot of the patterns that she said led…
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This Is Where It Ends
I can’t honestly say I enjoyed this book. It took me a long time to read it and I ended up finishing it on Audio book just so I could get it done and do other things while I listened. It was effective. Kudos — it was narrated well. I will say I did really…
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The Hiding Place
I don’t quite know what I expected of The Hiding Place. I grew up knowing the name Corrie Ten Boom — this was the ultimate in aspirational faith, to have one so strong you could manage to hide Jews in (what I thought was Nazi Germany) occupied Holland. The story is remarkable. I’d heard bits…
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With Every Memory
Content warning: sexual assault, loss of a child. I won’t really talk about them much in my review, but if you’re sensitive to these topics, this book may not be a great choice for you. Janine Rosche is a new author to me. I loved this book. It was so well written, jumping back and…
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The Best Summer of Our Lives
This book by Rachel Hauck has been receiving a great deal of praise all over the place. I’ve seen people raving about it on a few Facebook groups I’m in. The Four Seasons (Autumn, Summer, Spring, and Snow) are high school girls in 1977, being punished for a stupid sorority stunt leading up to college…
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She Deserves Better
Did you grow up steeped in evangelical purity culture? Do you have a daughter now, or a niece, or a friend’s kid that you care about? Are you a pastor, a youth leader, a teacher in a Christian environment? Do you care about the messages teen girls are growing up with? This book is important,…